A journey through my Ignorance

I remember when I signed up for this class I thought, easy A+ I’m a multicultural student taking a multicultural education class. My heritage should be enough that I wouldn’t even need to take this class. I was so wrong. Throughout this class I’ve been shown time and again what my ignorance wouldn’t allow me to see. I’m grateful for every reading, every video, and every discussion that we’ve had throughout this semester that has brought me knowledge and shown me my weaknesses. I’m not claiming to be cured of these biases; I am just cured of the ignorance of my ignorance. I hope to continue to learn and grow allowing others to do so also.

PORTFOLIO I:

I always dreamed of my classroom but I don’t think during those dreams I had a thought to the students. I’m very aware of individuality but I didn’t realize the depth of it. I knew about accommodations but I never realized the empathy or patience required to accommodate. Looking back at this assignment I realize how naive I was. More worried about the art on the walls then the students that filled the desks. I realize that my subject (history) speaks of people’s stories but what can I do to help these kids realize that they are living theirs? What can I do as an educator to make them proud and comfortable in their circumstances and their so-called “disadvantages”?

PORTFOLIO II:

The danger of single story spoke to me. It wasn’t exactly my experience but I felt it was so relatable that I posted it to my Facebook page. I am apart of a very small but tight knit society of Polynesians in Utah. The responses were astounding. Though this was a lady from a different race and culture we could identify with her because our end picture was similar, we were 2^nd generation Americans now. It was incredibly easy to find information for my blog. It is so apparent the racisms and single story stereotypes that occur against the Muslim community. But these single story stereotypes encompass so much more than just different cultured students. It encompasses every student and their different circumstances. I cannot assume that because two children from two different families that have gay fathers have the same story. Everyone has a different story. My responsibility is to listen as I work with my future students.

PORTFOLIO III:

Like I said in the blog, being the “other” is a constant. Yet the experience I had opened up a whole new realm for me. I realize that being the other in that circumstance wasn’t entirely based on my cultural differences but also my faith. I’m surprised that instead of coping with my otherness I became bitter and outright rejected the activities. If my students were to reject the feeling of other, which would be understandable, I’ve got to be there to make them feel like they are apart of it. Not by making them conform, but by addressing the differences and discussing individually the conflicts. There are going to be some instances where they might want to step out or not participate, I understand but it will be dependent on student to student.

The other project also made me think of the different social issues that occur in the community. Like gender inequality, race and ethnicity, language and immigration, religion, ability, sexual orientation. Each of these topics can make an individual feel like the other! We’ve all felt like the other at one point for different reasons and its important to know what reason my student feels uncomfortable and how I can change the classroom atmosphere to help them be confident. Sometimes its good to be the other to help others realize that there is another perspective but never to hider the child’s learning.

PORTFOLIO IV:  

Family culture is such apart of me that I realize that most of my opinions and biases come from there. I also know that if I project those biases and experiences on my students I could potentially isolate them. This project helped me realize how much apart of me is my family culture and how every student individually has a separate and unique family culture despite their culture. No two white people are the same, such as an Asian and a Latino aren’t the same? We are all unique and to be ignorant as I have of this is to isolate children, communities, and myself in a box.

PORTFOLIO V:

This was the most eye opening to me. They say jail changes a person and I believe it. But I also believe it changes everyone involved with that person. Their children, parents, spouses, nieces and nephews. Everyone that loves them is affected by their ending up in there. I found sympathy for each of the cellmate’s backgrounds. What could they have become if they’d seen the vision that Heavenly Father has for them. Or if there was one person that saw their potential. It reminded me of the book we read also for Book club. Bad boys. There is a cell with that child’s name on it already. This hurts me as an educator. The community needs hope and that comes from the diligence of teahers that find that hope in individuals potentials. I learned so much about immigrants their families and from the different experiences that others went through I gained new perspectives on what happens around the community. I realized my own privilege in this assignment. My privilege was blinding me from the experiences of others and their own battles.

The discussions we had about class and poverty especially helped me analyze myself during this experience. I never thought that a child could go through so much then be expected to go through so much more in the classroom to keep up with the students that don’t have these issues. 

PORTFOLIO VI:

Re-imagining my classroom was eye opening. It was like going back into the head of myself before this class and seeing a naive superficial human that had no understanding of her own ignorance. I’m grateful I could re-imagine with better eyes on what my classroom entails. There is so much work to be done.  The discussion and readings for teaching for social justice came to mind when re-imagining. The purpose of multicultural education is to help us all be more aware of different perspectives and experiences and grow!

I’m excited to help my children grow and even I’m excited to grow from the exposure of their experiences and their stories.

PORTFOLIO VII:

(Book club was mentioned in Portfolio V section)

I hope that this post proves how much I’ve learned from the hours of reading, discussions (inside and outside of class) and the videos seen. It has opened my mind and heart to new thoughts of what it is to go through this human experience and how to help others on their way as an educator.

Bad Boys Review

Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity Review

I am always fascinated by how an outsider can collect data like in this book. At one point the writer said she had become part of the family and sometimes just apart of the background. Especially in regards to when she went into the punishment room and when she interviewed the guardians of each student. This is detrimental to the study but it just fascinates me that its able to happen for over three years. I thought the author did a fabulous job depicting real examples and real experiences that are a good base for further study.

Some disturbances that made me feel uncomfortable and angry with was when the students that were excelling weren’t considered black. They were instead considered “schoolboys”. I have often heard this and seen this first hand. It shows that we need to help stop the stereotype that excelling in this life is apart of EVERY culture. I hope that by my example of being a minority in education they can see that vision in themselves.

Another disturbance was the age of the boys. Starting at 10 years old they are told that they have a cell waiting for them.  How at such a young age can these children be labeled as future criminals that are considered “unsalvageable”? This brings to my remembrance the videos seen in class about LGBT students talking about their teachers. Though teachers are humans we need to realize at all times we are shaping the minds of the future. Their futures. If they live in a society that tells them they will end up in jail based on their color it is our responsibility, as this book entails, to tell them otherwise.

This discussion of race and ethnicity a couple months ago came back to mind also. It seemed that these children were pre-destined by the school system to fail or to become “bad boys.”  She refers throughout the book to the groups she’s created to describe the boys, the “schoolboys”, the “troublemakers” and so forth. It becomes culturally accepted to be a troublemaker and even the terminology creates these groups. What the teachers call these boys comparatively to the white counterpart.

The stories in this book opened up the topic of race and ethnicity even further. Allowing me to see how crucial it is for me as an educator to cater to the needs of individuals. Though the book exposes a lot about the school system in creating these bad boys, she does little to provide a solution. I hope to as a future educator to help children see their worth because of their race and cultures. There is power in diversity and in my classroom hopefully deteriorating stereotypes will cease.